Knots
Strings or ropes are used almost daily by every one in some form or other, and yet people often break their nails and teeth gnawing at their own knots to untie them. Time spent in learning a few simple reliable knots is not time wasted, but quite the contrary.
To tie a knot seems a very simple thing and yet there are right and wrong ways of doing it, and Scouts ought to know the right way. For sometimes even lives depend on a knot being properly tied, as with sailors or men in building trades, and in case of fire-rescue.
The right kind of a knot is one which you can tie easily and be certain it will hold under any normal strain, and which you can easily undo.
A bad knot called a “granny” is one which slips when you pull hard, or which gets jammed so tight that you cannot untie it.
Of course there are several ways of tying the same knot, and so if your sailor uncle can show you a good way to make a bowline don’t tell him the one in this book is the only way.
The Parts of a Rope
The End.
The Bight or Loop, formed by turning the rope back on itself.
The Standing Part, or long portion of the rope.
Whipping
Rope ends that ravel are annoying and before working your scout rope too hard in practicing all these knots it is a good plan to whip the ends.
This is how you do it. Hold the rope end in your right hand. Take about 10 inches of twine, make a loop and lay it parallel on the rope so that the end of the twine extends about two inches beyond the end of the rope. Hold it firmly and with your left hand wind the standing part of your twine around your rope neatly up toward your right thumb. When you have bound the twine loop on to the rope for say an inch, then tuck your winding end through the loop, pull both ends of the twine, and cut them off close to the rope.
Now you are ready to work. There are two simple devices which will help you to learn the knots in the Tenderfoot test more easily, so it is well to master them first.
One is the
Overhand Knot
which is the very easiest of all to make. It is the first half of the square knot, and is a part of many other knots.
Back the end around the standing part and through the bight and draw tight.
The other is the
Running Noose
If you hang out some clothes on the line when there is a thunderstorm in the air, it will be well to tie up your clothes line with a slip knot at each end, as clothes and all can be taken down in a hurry. A slip knot made in one end of your cord, can be useful when you want to tie up a big parcel, for you can get a good “purchase” on the cord; it is also good in hitching a horse to a post.
Make a bight. Put your thumb and finger through it and pull up a loop of the free end of the rope.
Reef or Square Knot
The square knot (or reef knot) is the best simple all round knot, as it will not slip or jam and is easily untied. It is the safest knot to tie your parcels with when mailing them. It is also used to join two ropes, mend the clothes line, and for a hundred other uses. It is called a reef knot because it is used to reduce the size of a sail on a boat. As it is flat it is much used in First Aid, for tying a sling or triangular bandage.
Take an end of rope in each hand. Cross right end over the left and twist; then the same end (which is now in your left hand) over the other end, and twist again. Then pull the standing parts.
If you are left-handed, of course you would naturally first put your left end over your right. The thing to remember in tying a square knot is that the ends must alternate; otherwise you get a “granny,” or “lubber’s” knot.
Sheet Bend
The Sheet Bend (or Weaver’s knot) is good to use when you want to join a thick line to a thin one, or attach a rope to a loop or ring. They use this knot on steamboats when the big hawser can’t be thrown on shore, but a light line can be attached and easily thrown to the dock. It is a good knot for Scouts to use when making a guard line to keep back crowds, at a rally for instance. With this knot you can join your wool when knitting, and it is an excellent way to attach a fly to a fishing line.
Make a loop AB with one rope; pass the end, C, of your other rope through this loop, round both sides of the loop and down under its own standing part. Pull firmly.
Clove Hitch (or Builder’s Knot)
The clove hitch is used when fastening two poles together as in scaffolding, as either end will stand a strain without slipping either lengthwise or downwards. It is also used to tie a boat to a stake, or in First Aid to tie on a splint.
Pass the end around the post, below the standing part; around the post again, over the standing part, and tuck it down between the standing part and the turn.
Half Hitch
The half hitch is a very useful thing to know. It is not really a knot, but a loop used in tying many of the harder knots. A double half hitch is needed to make a secure knot and is used for fastening awning ropes, flag rope, etc. The more it is strained the faster it holds. It is a simple way of making a rope fast in a hurry, where a long continued strain is not expected, thus it is used in tying a boat’s painter, which is not a man but a rope fastened to the bow of a small boat.
Bowline
A Bowline makes a noose that is permanent, neither jamming nor slipping. It is useful in hoisting and lowering, as in case of fire, rescuing from drowning, a painter’s chair, etc. It is also used in a guard line, as a halter for animals, or wherever a safe loop is needed.
Take end in right hand: measure with your left sufficient rope for the loop you want; make a bight in your left hand and hold it. Now take the end of the rope in your right hand, put it up through the bight, round the standing part, and down through the bight again: pulling the end and both sides of your permanent loop with the right hand against the standing part in your left hand; (three against one).
Sheepshank
A scout would not waste a rope by cutting it but would shorten it by making a sheepshank. This will stand a great strain without slipping, but will loosen when held slack.
Lay the rope out straight. Cross your hands and take hold of the rope. Take up the slack by drawing your hands past each other. Hold the three parts of the rope between the loop and the end, and put it over the loop, leaving sufficient loop sticking out so the half hitch won’t slip off it; then pull. Do the same at the other end, and put it over the loop, leaving sufficient loop sticking out so the half hitch won’t slip off it; then pull. It can be untied by a quick jerk of the outside ropes forming the bights. To shorten a rope permanently this way, pass the ends through the loops, and the knot will hold for any length of time.
Fisherman’s Knot
This knot is used to tie two unequal thicknesses of rope. It gets its name from the fact that it is always employed in joining silkworm gut for fishing purposes.
Lay the two ropes parallel, the ends pointing different ways. Tie an overhand knot on rope one with the end of rope two, and then tie an overhand knot on rope two with the end of rope one. Now pull the standing parts and the knots will jam against each other and remain firm. To untie, pull the short ends apart, and then loosen.
When a girl has passed her Tenderfoot test, she is ready to become a full-fledged Scout. She pays to Headquarters her registration fee, 25 cents, and receives the registration card which is a sort of certificate of membership and shows that her name is registered at Headquarters. Now she is entitled to wear the uniform. And more than all, she makes her Scout promise solemnly before the troop, and thus becomes one of the Scout sisterhood. This is not an appropriate occasion on which to admit the public, or to make any great show or fuss.